INTRODUCTION
Rohrkhad Dwarf-Father sat in the Throne of Stars and cast his
second Eye upon the land. Although viewing his children always
disappointed him, he could not help himself from looking upon
the dwarves who, once peaceful, had now split into warring
tribes.
He bent the Eye upon chief Rakan of the Morin tribe and saw
through Rakan's eyes. Rakan was in his longhouse in the steady
Kafari, studying a leather map showing the boundaries of the
Morin and Tamar tribes. But now Rakan's loremaster placed
coloured clay to indicate the positions of a new threat--bands
of Taldor raiders to the west. Rohrkhad could feel Rakan's fear;
the Morin were dwarves and could be counted on to adhere to the
Codes of Battle, but the Taldor were unpredictable creatures.
The God then looked upon the stone city Haraza, capitol of the
Tamar, where the dark-skinned chief Torongo was shouting at
advisers. 'I do not want to hear of Taldor raids! We can defeat
Morin and Taldor! Find word of the treasures of the Gods!' And
the advisers scurried away, quarrelling about how they could
find word of treasures that had been lost for generations.
Rohrkhad sighed a sigh born from centuries of despair. Since the
other Gods drove him from his castle and stole his sigil, he had
watched his children all turn bitter, and now he had all but
given up on moral affairs. He longed for the mile-high steel
walls of his Castle Entemar. He longed for his sigil,
Khamalkhad, the axe forged from bloodstone before the dwarves
were born, now hidden deep in the ice caverns beneath Entemar.
And the covenants prevented Rohrkhad from returning to his
castle except in the form of impotent fire.
But Rohrkhad had one last hope to save the dwarves from
themselves and from the cruelty of the other gods. He had been
watching a young warrior who lived in the caves beneath Asarene
- a young warrior who was skilled with axe, crossbow and magic.
A young soldier who could one day penetrate Castle Entemar,
retrieve Khamalkhad, and use it as a symbol to unite the warring
dwarven tribes. Rohrkhad sang to the threads of Time, and tied
the youth to that destiny with divine chains.
INSTALLATION AND STARTUP
To run Bloodstone from the CD-ROM, log onto your CD-ROM drive
and type BLOOD E. The sound card setup will run automatically on
initial installation. To reset sound options later, type SETD E.
Bloodstone CD will use some space on your hard disc for save
files.
To create a boot disc
If you are unable to run Bloodstone CD-ROM due to 'insufficient
memory', you will need to create a Boot Disc. Insert a blank
disc to be formatted into drive A & type FORMAT A:/S E at the C:
prompt. This will create a system disc.
QUICK START
>From the title screen, select NEW (N). Choose a character to
lead your party. Pick three volunteers to join your party. Hit q
to give your party members random attributes. The game starts on
the northern edge of a cavern. There is an exit passage to the
southwest. Before the party can escape, it is ambushed by a
group of Taldor. When the fight is over, head west. You will
emerge in the land of Asarene. Move one space south, into the
camp, and talk to Mantar, who provides the background for your
quest. At this point, head north to Haraza to meet the Dwarves
of the Tamar tribe, or south to Kafari to the Dwarves of the
Morin tribe.
THE MAIN SCREEN
The status summary box in the top right hand corner of the
screen shows your party's current health and energy.
E.g.
DANAT 51 99 OK
HALAN 25 12 Ti
Danat has 51 Hit points, an energy level of 99, and no health
problems. Halan is on 25 hit points, 12 energy points and he's
tired. 'Po' means poisoned, 'Il' means ill, and 'Ex' means
exhausted.
USING THE MOUSE AND KEYBOARD
To say a magic word or ask about an 'other' topic, use the
alphabet keys to type the word. Commands are issued to the party
or selected member by pressing its first letter. Click in the
command box to issue commands. Number keys select party members
and enter status screens. Keys 1 - 6 select the corresponding
member, making him the recipient of your commands. For example,
if you press the 3 key, then select 'talk', party member 3 will
do the talking. Move your party around using the numeric keypad.
Clicking in the picture area is the same as 'looking' where the
mouse points. The left button moves you there. c V turns sound
on or off. q Escapes from problematical situations. E or z
issues highlighted commands.
MENUS AND COMMANDS
The Main Menu
Recall readies a spell for action.
Magic casts the spell.
Notes lets you review recent events.
Talk begins a conversation.
Camp recovers your party's energy, lets them learn spells, fix
their weapons, change armour, and more.
Pass makes your party stand still for five game minutes.
Formatn lets you rearrange your party's members using the number
keys and space bar.
Draw lets the selected party member draw a weapon.
Whisper tells you to whisper a magic word.
Look tells you what an object seems to be.
Sheathe puts a party member's weapon away.
Quit allows you to leave the game or pause it.
Save saves your game. You can save up to eight games.
Restart loads a previously saved game.
End returns you to the game in progress.
The Notes Menu
Up, Down, Top & Bottom scrolls through notes.
Insert lets you add a note of your own.
Add lets you add one at the end of the notepad.
Remove takes the note on the screen out of the notepad.
Search searches for a word in the notepad.
Go to lets you go to a specific page in the notepad.
Clear empties the entire notepad.
Level specifies how many notes are put in the notepad.
End returns to the main menu.
The Talk Menu
Greet lets the selected member switch their attentions.
Talk gets into the details.
People and Other ask you to type in a name or subject.
Offer offers a reward or bribe.
Assign tells someone to do a specific task.
Invite asks someone to join the party.
Dismiss removes a party member.
Buy lets you purchase an object from someone.
Sell lets you sell one of your own objects.
End ends the conversation, returning to the Main Menu.
TRAVEL
To explore Tarq, you will travel on foot, by magical means, and
by sailing (learn the art of shipbuilding). When travelling
through the countryside, the screen shows an area that can be
crossed in about half a day on foot. If the party is not
properly equipped to cross certain terrain, a message appears to
let you know. Your party can also teleport via a teleportation
chamber. These are very rare, difficult to find, and even harder
to activate.
STATUS SCREENS
The status screens, activated by zero (0), allow you to gain
information on your party members and transfer items between
them. Inven and Magic let you skip quickly through the status
screens.
Transfr lets you drop an item or transfer items between party
members.
Distr distributes items evenly to the rest of the party.
Pool collects items into one person's inventory.
Search gives an overview of the party's possessions.
The first status screen lists personal data.
Hit Pts are the current hit points followed by maximum hit
points. Sleep, the Heal spell, or potions restore them.
Energy is the character's current energy level. Sermin
Mushrooms, sleep, or the Energy spell restore this.
Shield is the party member's magical shield protection.
In Hand is the weapon the party member has drawn.
Spell is the magic spell ready to be cast.
Health is a list of the member's health problems.
In Use is something that has been eaten or applied, and is ready
to take effect.
Wearing is the armour the party member has put on.
The second Status Screen displays the 9 character attributes.
Normally ranging from 0 to 12. The next two screens list the 18
skills and the current ability in them, ranging from 0 to 99.
The Inventory Screen shows a character's complete inventory.
Weapons, armour, and other special items usually show wear and
tear (W-T) next to the item name. Each party member's inventory
is limited to 40 different items.
The Spell status screen show spells the member knows.
MEM is the spells memorised and not yet cast.
TIM is the time it would take to memorize the spell.
ENE is the energy needed to cast the spell.
CHARACTER ATTRIBUTES
Bravery
determines when or if a character will flee during combat. The
Courage spell will boost bravery.
Strength determines what weapons may be used and how much damage
can be done.
Dexterity lets a character do more than one thing in one combat
turn.
Endurance determines the maximum hit points.
Agility reflects the ability to dodge a physical attack.
Loyalty tells how likely a member is to complete assignments
given by the hero.
Charm measures a character's ability to speak profitably.
Intelligence affects the amount of time needed to memorize a
spell.
Resistance is the ability to withstand magic attacks.
CHARACTER SKILLS
Some skills improve with experience, others with training. Their
are several schools, where instructors train your party in the
various skills.
Sword skill determines how likely a character is to score a hit
with a sword.
Axe skill reflects ability with an axe.
Archery skill reflects ability with bow and arrow.
Magic ability affects the result of spells cast.
Fist is used when the character is out of weapons.
Swimming skills increase chances in crossing water.
Trading allows your party to get the best prices.
Stealth is the ability to avoid hostile beasts.
Researching skills allow a character to dig information.
Soulreading allows a character to read emotions.
Lockpicking skills open chests without setting off traps.
Tracking ability increases the chances of discovering an ambush.
Musical ability helps you play music to good effect.
Carpenter skills allow your characters to build shelter and, as
with other craft skills, earn money in the towns.
Metalsmith skills allow characters to fix weapons.
Gemcutter skills are useful for earning money and selling gems.
Tailor skills allow you to make a good impression.
Leadership ability increases the likelihood of successfully
rallying your party in battle.
THE PARTY
Your party members can talk with each other in the same way they
talk to other people. To dismiss a member, issue the dismiss
command. He will then return home. This allows your hero to
invite someone else. Another way to open up a place in the party
is to send a companion on assignment. You can assign companions
to take up employment, memorize spells or receive training to
improve a particular skill.
CHARACTER GENERATION
Once in the character's Status Screen you may edit their skills,
personality and background. Select continue to skip through
until you reach the attributes screen.
You have 30 points to allocate to the character's attributes.
Select continue again, to see that you have 30 points to
allocate to skills. Each point allocated to a skill takes 1
point away from the points available. Each point added to an
attribute decreases the number by 3.
ITEMS
Potion: 'Use' a potion to restore hit points.
Sermin Mushrooms: Restores energy to magic users.
Gonshi Mushrooms: Increases dexterity.
Nift Leaves: Rubbing these on the back of the neck stops the
next 3 physical blows from doing any harm.
Mirget Leaves: Rubbing these on a members arm greatly increases
the damage the next swing will do.
Luffin Flowers: Makes the next swing hit every time.
Turpin Mushrooms: Increases the next spell's potency.
Fireglobes: When stepped on during combat will explode and cause
great damage.
Loka Packets: Cures the effects of poison.
Medicin Doses: Cures illness.
Enchanted Tiles: Used to activate teleportal chambers.
Maps: Use a map to see your surroundings.
Map flasks: Use these in unmapped areas. They are activated by
pearls or, preferably, a piece of alabaster.
Drum: Rallies your party in combat.
Lyre: Restores your party's energy.
Bugle: Used to terrify an enemy.
Flute: Soothes an enemy into submission.
Shovels: Used to dig for buried treasure.
Picks: Needed to unlock hidden treasures.
Ropes: Essential for climbing mountains.
Blankets: Used to gain maximum energy when camping.
COMBAT
Prepare your party for combat. Your setup options are:
Draw lets a party member draw a weapon.
Sheathe used to fight (or talk) bare-handed.
Recall lets you recall a memorized spell.
Look allows you to identify creatures and objects.
With the Talk option you can choose to Rally your own side or
Greet the opposition. If rallying is successful it increases
enthusiasm. Greet allows you to talk to the leader of the
opposition. If he attacks immediately they have the advantage of
moving first. To skip all the preliminaries select Begin. During
combat, all members of one side take a turn, then all the
members of the other side. In an ambush, the monsters go first
unless a party member detected the ambush. If there was no
ambush, then you go first unless you try to 'Talk' and fail.
Markers indicate which members have not completed their moves.
Retreat is sometimes advisable. Characters who fled from combat
usually reappear after victory. If the leader flees, the rest of
your party will also attempt to flee.
Here is an example of a combat messages:
Danat hits Taldor -16
Dam: 14 (A-2) HP:8
Danat scored a hit against a Taldor worth 16 hit points. The
actual damage was 14 due to the Taldor's leather armour which
absorbed 2 points. As a result of the hit, the Taldor has 8 hit
points left.
You can tell the party members who still have moves left in the
current turn to make moves as they see fit. This is accomplished
with the Solo command. The Head command lists all available
party members. The party member you choose replaces you as
leader. Adjust the speed of the combat using the number keys 0 -
9. Return the members to your control by pressing any other key.
After defeating the monsters, you must resurrect any slain party
members as soon as possible. If you fail, be sure to transfer
valuable possessions to survivors. Next take the opportunity to
plunder the bodies of your conquered foes. If the monsters were
guarding a treasure chest or magic fountain, 'Use' a pick on the
locked chest, or drink from the fountain to restore energy.
MAGIC
As your party proceeds in its quests, it will both wield and
withstand much magic. The more they know about this powerful
force, the more prepared they will be. There are nine rules of
magic:
Rule 1: The energies needed to cast spells can only be
channelled through the use of a spell totem.
Rule 2: Spells can be learned from magic totems only.
Rule 3: Spells that have been learned must be recalled to memory
before they can be cast.
Rule 4: If a spell has been learned more than once, the next
copy will jump into the caster's recollection.
Rule 5: Less experienced casters use their own energy. Those of
more experience draw energy from the atmosphere surrounding them.
Rule 6: Experienced spell-casters get a greater effect from
spells. Resistant opponents receive a lesser effect.
Rule 7: Time taken learning a spell depends on the difficulty of
the spell, the magical aura of the local geography, and the
intelligence of the spell-caster.
Rule 8: All magic resolves itself.
Rule 9: Spell effectiveness depends on circumstances.
THE SPELL TOTEMS
Ashard--Ashard's spells are a mix of offensive, defensive and
informational spells.
FEAR instills a fear of combat. The length of time depends on
your skill and the resistance of the opponent.
CONFUSE makes the enemy forget all about you.
SHATTER sends an ice ball at the opponents which shatters upon
contact and causes great damage.
GLAMOUR increases the target's apparent charm, making it
possible for the target to hold conversations.
LOCATE can be used to either avoid conflict or find it.
DETECT marks the location of magical teleportals.
Belfon--Belfon's spells are mostly used in combat.
FIREBALL changes the air to fire and propels it toward the
chosen opponent.
TELEPORT changes the location of the party.
HEAL changes the stamina of its target to be as high as
possible. It does not cure illness or poisoning.
WEAKEN changes the target opponent's armour to sand, and its
magical shield to air.
JUMP changes a combatant's location.
WHIRLWIND conjures up a raging, conical windstorm.
Chalta--Chalta is the totem of protection.
ENERGY restores the target's energy to its maximum. The maximum
is lower when the target is ill or poisoned.
SEE is the counterspell to Disappear. When See is cast on an
area, all opponents become visible again.
DISAPPEAR is the spell of invisibility. While invisible, the
target is protected from the most attacks. An invisible person
can attack with no chance of missing.
WALKWATER congeals portions of pools and streams, allowing the
caster and his party to walk on them.
SHIELD erects a magical shield around the target. The shield
protects against magical assaults only.
RESURRECT actually raises the dead. The person to be resurrected
must have been slain in honourable combat and can not have been
dead very long.
Demmock--among the mightiest of spell totems.
MOBILITY removes paralysis.
FIRESTORM throws fireballs against all the opponents at once.
The fireballs are only half as powerful as those thrown against
a single opponent by the Fireball spell.
HEAL ALL restores full hit points to all party members.
ALLSHIELD is to 'Shield' as Firestorm is to 'Fireball'. It
strengthens the magical shields of all party members.
FIREDEATH throws a giant fireball. It damages everyone near its
landing point, as would a normal fireball spell.
CRUMBLE is a devastating mental attack. When cast, all of your
opponents' shields are stripped away.
Entus--these are of benefit in combat and in towns.
CURE removes the effects of poison and illness.
BARGAIN temporarily increases its target's trading skill.
QUIVER is cast on someone using a crossbow. The target receives
a quiver of magical bolts.
SHARPEN is cast on someone using a sword or axe. The weapon will
inflict a disabling wound.
BERSERK causes one of your party to be possessed by a mad
spirit. While affected, the character will attack multiple times
during a round and do greater damage.
WHERRIGAN summons the mighty Wherrigan to fight.
Fanorl--Another very powerful totem.
BETRAY causes its target to turn against his or her allies.
SUMMON produces a duplicate of its target.
DESTROY completely destroys almost any opponent. Casting it
removes memory of all other spells.
TERRIFY causes enemies not brave enough to flee.
DOUBLE conjures up a duplicate of a party member.
TIMESTOP slows down time for the caster's opponents.
Gimlai--Gimlai's spells are of great aid to the party.
ACIDBALL hurls a ball of fuming acid at its target.
IMBECILE causes loss of all spellcasting ability.
COURAGE used to enhearten a companion.
SENSE detects ambushes before they happen.
RESTSOUL prevents a fallen undead foe from reanimating and
rejoining the fight.
LIGHTNING sends an electrical ball from the caster to the
target, damaging all in its path.
COMBAT TECHNIQUES
Spell totems are the most important assets of your party.
Mushrooms and leaves are also indispensable. Mirget will triple
your damage. In a serious fight, all the party members should
use gonshi. It is worthwhile to enrol a companion who is
skilled in music. Each party member gets a variable number of
moves each round, depending on dexterity. Dexterity 1-5, ensures
one or two moves. 6 means two moves; over 6 means two or three.
If you attack or cast a spell on the first move, then eat a
gonshi, and then continue to attack or cast spells for three
more moves, this will result in four useful moves each round.
The Sharpen spell doubles damage. Combined with mirget, Sharpen
is lethal.
If a party member has a low sword or axe skill, use luffin
flowers or position the character so the monster can't dodge. If
something is in their way on both sides, they can't dodge. When
you first encounter the enemy, you will be on the other side of
the battlefield from them. Jump a party member with high
strength and a big weapon up next to the monsters, have him use
gonshi, mirget and nift, cast Sharpen, and then bash monsters
into oblivion. With an enemy already in their midst, the
monsters will be less inclined to advance into your rear ranks.
To double the damage, arm your party with crossbows and cast
Quiver on them before they fire. This works well on monsters
with fewer than 100 hit points. Move your wizards and archers to
the rear and move your fighters to the front. The most important
thing when facing monsters is to survive. Cast Disappear on all
your party members before your turn ends. The monsters will then
wander aimlessly until it's your turn again. Some monsters can
detect invisible people, others can cast a counterspell. When
the Disappear spell isn't enough, nift leaves and steel plate
armour will help your party members survive physical attacks.
Kill spellcasters and archers first. They tend to combine their
fire-power against a single party member. Spellcasters should
have a good supply of Resurrect spells, you never know which one
will survive to cast it on the others.
The Summon, Double, Betray and Wherrigan spells all change the
odds of the battle in your favour.
TROUBLESHOOTING
Bloodstone requires XMS extended memory for playing digitized
sound effects. XMS memory requires the HIMEM.SYS driver from DOS
or Windows or other upper-memory manager like QEMM to be active.
To test for sound card compatibility problems, run SETD from DOS
and select one of the PC SPEAKER options.
WEAPONS Strength Needed Base Damage
Shortsword 1 18
Scimitar 2 16
Broadsword 4 28
Broadsword 6 35
Greatsword 8 44
Smallaxe 2 17
Hammeraxe 3 25
Battleaxe 5 33
Doubleaxe 6 37
Greataxe 8 45
Light Crossbow 3 20
Medium Crossbow 5 30
Heavy Crossbow 9 50
ARMOUR Protection
Leather 4
Ring mail 7
Chain mail 10
Dwarven chain 13
Bronze plate 18
Steel plate 21
Methreal 28
Bronze helmet 3
Iron helmet 5
Steel helmet 8
This product is exempt from classification under UK Law.
In accordance with The Video Standards Council Code of Practice
it is considered suitable for viewing by the age range(s)
indicated.
Copyright 1993 Mindcraft Software, Inc.
Action 16 is a trademark of Digital Integration Limited.
Distributed under licence by Digital Integration Limited,
Watchmoor Trade Centre, Watchmoor Road, Camberley, Surrey, GU15
3AJ. Sales: 01276 684959 Fax: 01276 21541 Customer Support:
01276 678806